(LifeSiteNews) — Tested positive for COVID-19? Failure to self-isolate could land you in prison if you live in Mississippi, according to an order put out by the state health officer on Friday.
Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs issued a statewide order August 20 threatening fines and prison time for COVID-positive Mississippians who fail to quarantine.
Mississippi has issued a COVID-19 isolation order that requires people who are infected with COVID-19 to self-isolate or face fines and possible jail time
— WebMD (@WebMD) August 22, 2021
“All persons residing in Mississippi must immediately home-isolate on first knowledge of infection with COVID-19,” wrote Dobbs, who became the state’s health officer in 2018 and is an Associate Professor at the UMMC School of Population Health.
According to Dobbs, those who test positive for the virus must isolate at home “or [an]other appropriate residential location” for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms or the reception of a positive test.
The order does not exempt those who have been “fully vaccinated” or who are asymptomatic. Recent data from various countries, including Israel and the U.K., have highlighted the ineffectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing transmission. Fully 66% of deaths from the Delta variant in the U.K. are from among individuals who received at least one shot, according to a British government report earlier this month.
While a negative COVID test is not required to leave isolation afterwards, “you must be fever free for at least 24 hours with improvement of other symptoms.”
Dobbs added that grade schools in Mississippi “are required to exclude all students and faculty diagnosed with COVID-19 from the school setting.”
The health officer then specified the punishment for those who fail to comply with his orders.
“The failure or refusal to obey the lawful order of a health officer is, at a minimum, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $500.00 (41-3-59) or imprisonment for six months or both,” he wrote.
Dobbs’ order then made clear that noncompliance with COVID-19 protocols will incur heftier penalties than merely failing to comply with other directives issued by a health officer.
It says, “If a life threatening disease is involved, failure or refusal to obey the lawful order of a health officer is a felony, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000.00 or imprisonment for up to five years or both (41- 23-2).”
As noted by the Daily Wire, Dobbs failed to specify “[h]ow officials would know someone tested positive and failed to self-isolate in order to punish them.”
In addition to warning of a felony conviction, costly fines, and prison time for anyone, even if asymptomatic and “fully-vaccinated,” who fails to isolate at home after getting a positive COVID-19 test result, the Mississippi order added specific directions surrounding how individuals who test positive ought to operate once within their own homes.
“Persons infected with COVID-19 should limit exposure to household contacts,” the order reads. “No visitors should be allowed in the home. Please stay in a specific room away from others in your home.”
COVID-positive individuals are also directed to “[u]se a separate bathroom,” if possible, and to wear a face covering “[i]f you need to be around others in your home.”
The new restrictions come ostensibly in response to rising case numbers attributed to the Delta variant, with health officials like Dobbs blaming unvaccinated Mississippians for the increase in caseload, though leading experts, including Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier, have warned that vaccines are driving the creation of variants.
As reported by the Daily Wire, Mississippi “has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country,” with 45.1% of Mississippi residents reported to have gotten at least one shot, while 36.8% are “fully vaccinated.” While Mississippi’s vaccination rates are indeed below the national average, reported COVID-19 hospitalizations exceed those recorded in the state last year, before the shots were rolled out.
According to reporting by Fox News, “Mississippi hospitals currently have more COVID-19 patients than at any other time in the pandemic,” with 1,660 hospitalized, 457 in the ICU, and 324 on ventilators as of Wednesday of last week, per state health data. Some the nation’s most vaccinated states, like Vermont and New York, have also experienced massive surges in COVID-19 hospitalizations, at the same time.
Mississippi’s self-isolation order comes as part of a dizzying parade of renewed COVID-19 restrictions and mandates across the USA, including mask requirements and vaccine mandates from local governments, employers, businesses, entertainment venues, and more. Some cities have begun using digital apps to track vaccination status.
Federal departments, state governments, and employers have been mandating the experimental COVID-19 injections for months despite a lack of full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On Monday, however, the FDA announced it has “fully approved” the Pfizer/BioNTech double-dose mRNA jab for everyone aged 16 and older.
The move is expected to pave the way for more coercive vaccine mandates in future.
FDA approval came in spite of the fact that clinical trials for the Pfizer shot to determine its safety and efficacy are not expected to be completed until 2023.
LifeSiteNews has produced an extensive COVID-19 vaccines resources page. View it here.